Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-10-27


railroad arrived, no ore was SHIPPED
The pig-iron was hauled overland t.
Ste. Genevieve, on the Missippi, ant
sent by boat from there.
ORE CLEANING.
The uncovering of the underground
deposits puts new phase on the IroI
Montain property. More than half o
the ore above ground has been remov.
ed, and until the shaft and inclines
opened up the future the company
could see the beginning of the end
Now there is ore in sight for genera
tions to come. A good deal of dirt and
rock comes out with the ore, ard this
necessitates an elaborate cleaning pro-
cess. The larger pieces of ore go direct
from the mine to the cars for shipment
The smaller fragment, mixed with re.
fuse, go upon the dump. Powerful
streams are turned on, and the thick
red torrents rushing down the mount.
ain side show how effective is the first
application of water. But this is only
partial cleaning. The ore and the
gravel is hauled to the separator where
1t is first run thruegh screen which
takes out the coarser pieces. Then
water is added, and the finer bits OF ore
go over jigs aud screens until they are
all taken out, even to the iron sand.
There are three different sizes Of iigs to
catch fine ore and three sets of tailings
60 to the dumps. To see the great
masses of ore and then to witness the
care exercised to save every bit even to
the sand is to get new idea of IRON
mining in its conomy.
There is some of the Iron Mountain
formation which needs no separator.
In the John Horn cut the vein was all
ore. There wasn't enough dirt to fill
up the tramway track which was put
down i'm the cut. Thls vein was % feet
thick. A peculiarity about the Iron
Mountain veins is that they do not go
straight through. They curve and twist
about, forming horseshoes and variety
of shapes. These bodies of ore lie ver-
tical in some places, and at all angle in
others. On what is known as South
vein, the ore has been taken out to u
depth of $50 feet, and 25 feet across.
There was very little refuse.
HALF ORE.
Iron Mountain was not solid mass
of ore, as it is sometimes described, but
the mountain came nearer being all ore
than any other similar large formation.
Taking into consideration the cap, the
veins and the deposits. one may fairly
estimate that the mountain, when
operations upon it began, was one-half
ore.
Little Mountain, as the SIN aller of the
two masses was called. has almost dis
appeared. 1t was located nearest the
railroad. Not only was the top taken
out. but q great core was eXcavated as
we'll. and n vein which dips at an angie
of thirty-five degrees, was for many
years worked as an open excavation of
crater-lik- shape. It is now being fol-
lowed underground at depth of 260
feet and the bottom has not been reach
ed. The cars of ore are hauled up the
long incline to the edge of this CRATER
and then sent down the mountain.
The route is rather long one, and to
shorten 1t a tunnel Is being run in from
near the base of Little Mountain to the
top of the vein. A late assay of the
ore from this vein showed 66.67 per
cent of iron and only a trace of plIos-
phorus. The ore is worth going good
w"ys to get.
THE KNOB HOLDING ITS OWN.
II never saw as pretty a mine as
Pilot Knob, ,"said Capt. William Searle,
who has spent good part of his life
in this and the old coun-
try. The Captain came here from the
Lake Superior iron region, and he has
recently refused. after a visit and
examination, to take charge
of one Of the largest Alabama mines.
pilot Knob is clean," he continued.
1.-THE ore is well defined, the mine is
dry. and altogether it is a pleasant
place 10 work. They have great guam
titles If ore in Alabama, and it is no
IL tr> t,n 10 IL,
the average of what saw would not
per ce,it; our No. 2 is go per cent, and
our No. is from SO to go per cent. You
see the difference. MY idea is that
those Southern furnaces will draw on
Missouri! for great d. al of our ore TO
mix " ith theirs"
The Pilot Knob Iron Company was
organized in 1s47 by MIR. Allen and
others. Everything from ore-cars to
mules, was branded "P. K" When
the rebs came up through here on one
of the last of their invasions OF Mis-
souri,, they carried off all the live stock
A fterwar,ts, when hostilities were over,
there was an effort made to recover
some of the animals by replevin in one
Of the back counties, but the lawyer
who defended the case held that "P.
K K.n stood for "Price's kavalry," and
the iron Company was thrown out of
court 10y an indignant judge and jury.
At least this is the story told.
THE NEW INITIALS.
The Pilot Knob Iron Company W as
merged into the "St. Louis Ore and
Steel Company" not long ago. and the
old familiar brand is not seen now.
Mr.. F.. A. Hitchcock, of st. Louis, is
President, but most of the stock is held
by New Workers. Under an ironclad
rule no visitors are now permitted to
enter the mine without an order from
the ST. Louis office. The outside inn
preston is that the mountain has been
gutted until Is dangerous, but the of
ficers say that it is all nonsense. The
for the impression seems to
be that an upper portion of the mine
caved in lnst spring. Work had been
abandoned there some time before. and
it Was known that the timbers would
not much longer sustain the weight.
AS the company had no particular use
for keeping up the threatening roof it
was allowed to come down.
Recently some steps have been taken
to resume prospecting on Cedar Noun
tain. A mine had been opened there
when the financial difficulties, which
led to the consolidation, involved the
old company. CEDAR Mountain was
a abandsned and water was allowed to
The workings there have
been cleared and the prospecting will
be continued A vein has been opened
and traced for 700 feet. 1t contains
iron ore superior to any mined in
Southeast Missouri, but the drawback
is in the quantity. This vein 81 far as
opened varies from 10 to 2 feet in thick
ness.